Our Responsibility in the Seven and the Twelve
from
Seven and Twelve
Martin Cecil September 20, 1981
Most holy Lord of creation, I address Thee in these words with the greatest reverence and awe. This morning I bring this congregation before Thee. In Thy name I invite them to come near unto me, that thereby they may come near unto Thee. In these moments of quietness we are aware of Thy presence and of Thy love. According to the spiritual responsibility accepted by each one in their living heretofore, so may these all together offer to Thee a body of flesh for the accommodation of Thy spirit and Thy word, that the blessing of Thy creative action may be extended in this hour into all the world to all people, an outpouring of Thy creative spirit, opening the gates of Thy kingdom for the inflowing of response wherever it is present in the hearts and lives of human beings everywhere. Thou only, O Lord of creation, art God. We have no other gods before Thee. Aum-en.
We have now moved into a new year, a new cycle of seven years—into the Fiftieth Year of this ministry on earth. It is also not only a year in its own right but it is the first in a succession of years, seven to be exact, which would be characterized by the fire force. This particular year, in and of itself within the cycle of this ministry, is characterized by the air force. Here are two aspects of the creative power by which God's will is done. Making reference to this, I am making reference to something that relates very specifically to the Emissary ministry. We have a certain awareness of the significance of this ministry to the larger picture, the world of mankind.
There is one level of consideration with respect to numbers which we need to understand. Usually when Emissaries, or those who consider themselves to be Emissaries—there may be a distinction here—consider numbers, seven and twelve emphasize themselves in consciousness. This is not by chance, even though there may heretofore have been little real understanding of what it was that was being considered. It is clear that in the unfoldment of the ministry as such, seven has been predominant. We have just completed seven cycles of seven years; we now move into the eighth cycle of seven years. This is presuming that the seven-year pattern continues as before. There is always the possibility that the days may be shortened somewhat. So there is the seven-year cycle, which has been clear enough over the last forty-nine years, relating directly to the responsibilities carried by reason of the Emissary ministry.
At the same time, of course, these seven years are made up of one year at a time. The year itself relates to the passage of the earth in its orbit around the sun. This orbit, from the standpoint of human calculations at least, has been divided up into twelve months. It is not by chance that this pattern has come to be accepted in the world: twelve months on the one hand, seven days in the week on the other hand. Here are two aspects of one thing. They say there are fifty-two weeks in a year, but it isn't quite right. They say there are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, and that isn't quite right either. But there are these divisions, which relate to something with which human beings everywhere are familiar.
We ourselves may see that the seven has a particular relatedness to this Emissary ministry. We recognize here the emergence of a conscious focus, a conscious spiritual focus for mankind. We may recall the story of creation in the Book of Genesis, where emphasis is placed there upon seven: seven days, seven periods of time, seven cycles. Here was a deliberate creative process for a specific purpose, conveyed, on this basis, as relating to seven. Being a deliberate process, we could say it would be a conscious process. So the seven relates very particularly to this conscious focus of what is provided by what the Emissary ministry actually is. What it actually is and what people may have thought it to be could be different. But there is a reality here which we have used Emissaries of Divine Light to describe. The reality, of course, needs to emerge as it actually is so that, in a sense, words to describe it would be unnecessary. But there are words to describe it and we are content with these words which bring to focus the conscious, deliberate action necessary in the creative process by which the restoration of mankind may be achieved.
We recognize that there is no conscious mind without the subconscious aspects of mind. You can't really separate the two, any more than you can separate the surface of the water from the water underneath. So there is a subconscious aspect, which relates very particularly to the experience of mankind over the centuries and the millennia; and this is indicated by the use of the number twelve. There are the twelve tribes of the earth which were, back along the way, represented by the twelve disciples, the twelve tribes of Israel; in other words here is something that is all-inclusive of mankind—in a more particular sense the subconscious aspect of the mind of mankind.
There has been a certain amount of deliberation in this subconscious level of human experience. In other words it could be said that there has been a certain amount of what human beings would probably describe as conscious action in the world. All the human achievements that are seen round about are apparently consequent upon this conscious action. But this relates very much to a dream state, where there is apparently someone present—who maybe one thinks of as oneself—in the dream, doing various things and being done unto by various other things in the dream. And this is pretty well what has been occurring in the world as human beings have known it. It all is included in this subconscious level, symbolized by the twelve. Of course, seven is a number that is included in twelve. It's part of the whole mind of mankind but refers in a particular sense to the surface conscious levels, which are rightly brought to focus by those who may be properly called Emissaries of Divine Light. So we have these two aspects here.
The twelve is very inclusive of far more than the immediate earthly experience. Certainly the earth moves around the sun in its orbit, and that orbit may be divided into twelve segments; but obviously the earth is not alone in moving around the sun. And the solar system is not alone, in an isolated sense, but is a part of the galaxy, and so on. So the twelve may be seen as relating to something far vaster than the subconscious levels of the human mind; the subconscious levels of the human mind simply represent something much vaster. The twelve, therefore, refers to the planetary system as such, the solar system, the galaxy and the universe. Here is the particular connection that mankind has with this vastness—through the twelve.
So there is the twelve aspect and the seven aspect. Our concern has been especially with the seven aspect. Whereas this seven aspect is made up of years, of course, it is immediately related to the twelve, which refers, amongst other things, to the twelve months of the year, the movement of the planet around the sun. So the connection is there in the year. Each individual year as it comes around is directly connected to the twelve of the subconscious aspect of the whole body of mankind. I use words to describe all this but I am trusting that you have some spiritual discernment which enables you to comprehend what it is that I'm talking about; because if you try to intellectualize it you will lose it. But it is clear, obvious, actual, real, when it is spiritually discerned.
This year which is before us is the beginning of a seven-year cycle, but it is a year in and of itself. We don't wish to lay emphasis upon the external factors, which loom so large in human consciousness, because we are now concerned directly and deliberately with what might be described as heavenly elements. These heavenly elements will be reflected in external factors, yes, but we may be reminded of the verse in the Book of Job: “Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?” This is our direct and immediate responsibility. First of all, the ordinances of heaven must be known. One couldn't very easily set the dominion of the unknown in the earth; so the ordinances of heaven must be known. In a sense I've been speaking of this now, utilizing these particular terms relative to the numbers seven and twelve. All this relates to the ordinances of heaven.
Sometimes, I think, the ordinances of heaven are looked upon as being fixed structures. But we recognize that life is the evidence of these ordinances, and life is always characterized by movement and change. So there is something moving, something changing constantly, relative to the ordinances of heaven. They are based in what we may call the Law, but the Law is not static; it's constantly moving, relative to the requirements of the creative process. And so we have ordinances of heaven, which need to be discerned momentarily. You can't say to yourself, “Well now I know the ordinances of heaven; I'm going to set the dominion thereof in the earth,” because as soon as you've said that, they've changed to something fresh which reveals the reality of a living, pulsating movement. And we have the responsibility, in the creative cycles that are before us, to bring to focus these living pulsations and allow them to take their fitting form in their fitting seasons. Coming events, in that sense, the events brought forth by these living pulsations, may in some respects cast their shadows before, so that we are not entirely blind relative to the future. But though we may discern something with respect to the future, we are not wrapped up in what we may discern in that regard, because we don't know exactly what form it is going to take. What is to occur must be vibrationally established; the ordinances of heaven in each moment. Don't be too hooked on your vision, because whatever it should be can only be as the ordinances of heaven, now, are set in the earth now and in each succeeding moment. Then, coming together, we know what it is. All of us have a responsibility in developing various creative movements which are being brought forth. So we need to gain an overall view of the heavenly ingredients that are present relating to what we would refer to probably as vibrational factors. Those vibrational factors may be brought to point by utilizing the seven and the twelve. We see our responsibility in the seven.
In order to make right use of what is occurring we must remain at the balance point where we belong. Human beings are inclined to swing to extremes. There are definitely pulsations. These pulsations are related very particularly to the twelve, or the subconscious aspect of things. But consciously we need to be at the balance point and not swung around by whatever is happening in the subconscious level. What is happening in the subconscious level, from the standpoint of heaven, needs to happen, not in order to push us around but to provide us with the material that is needed for the deliberate achievement of what it is that should be achieved. So we may recognize the necessity of standing at this balance point. The balance point, which can be looked at in various ways, relates first of all to the horizontal component, of which mention has been made before. We may see it in terms of the past on one side and the future on the other. Well we need to be in the middle—that is, exactly now. That doesn't deny the fact that there is a past stretching away and a future stretching away; but here we are now, in this present moment.
Another aspect of this relates to the tendency of human beings to swing to what they think of as a spiritual extreme—spiritualistic, I think, is the more accurate term—and to the materialistic extreme on the other end of the spectrum. No, we need to be in the middle, the Central Way, the balance point, because only there is there direct connection and relatedness with the vertical component—the vertical component which comes to focus in the present moment. It doesn't come to focus in the past; it doesn't come to focus in the future. It certainly doesn't come to focus in the spiritualistic antics of human beings or in the materialistic antics of human beings. And yet there is this pulsation moving from the heavenly standpoint, of which one may be consciously aware. And we need to be consciously aware of it, not to be thrown around by it, because here are the facilities for creative action that we consciously and deliberately can make use of—the point of balance, the point where the creative power is, the point where God and man are one. So we may observe what is happening, we may be aware of the pulsations. These are part of the ordinances of heaven, mistranslated by human beings. But we're here to translate them correctly, not to do away with them. We need to be steady in the middle, but this doesn't prevent us from discerning, and being aware of, the pulsations which are moving on each side of that central point.
These pulsations can be seen in different ways too. It's interesting to note that the anniversary of this ministry falls approximately, in the northern hemisphere at least, at the time of the autumnal equinox. This is a balance point, not only for the northern hemisphere but for the southern hemisphere, when the length of the day and the night are the same—the same thing in the north as in the south. This is indicative of a balance point. When you come to the solstice in the summer or the winter, you have a directly opposite experience in northern and southern hemispheres. In other words, it looks as though in the northern hemisphere it's unbalanced in one direction, but in the south there is evidence of unbalance in the other direction. There is nothing wrong with that, is there? It's quite all right. We at least enjoy the long days of summer; we should enjoy the short days of winter. It's all part of the cycle. But we ourselves are not being flung around by this; we stand where we belong, and are in position then to use rightly what it is that is actually happening.
What is actually happening is what is happening from the standpoint of the ordinances of heaven, not what is happening from the standpoint of human mistranslation of these ordinances. And we have all sorts of events, very troublesome things going on in the world, based entirely in human mistranslation. Well here we are, back where we belong, in order to provide the balance point which allows all these movements, pulsations back and forth that rightly occur as part of the living process, to be rightly used, rightly translated in our own experience. We can't immediately start translating them out there somewhere: “Well the events of the world are not the way I like them. This and that is not happening the way it should.” No, we live right here, we live next to ourselves and in the immediate environment, and here's where the balance point needs to be. One can see, even from the rather surface viewpoint, that if there are enough people who stay in that balance point around the world, we have a balance point represented everywhere. And this begins to assume responsibility, then, for the creative process which is working out, designed to permit the restoration of mankind.
Most of the things that are going on in the world apparently have no relatedness to that; no one even thinks about it. But we think about it, we know something about it, and we are aware of our responsibility with respect to it. And this is very real to the extent that we are in the real position. If we go off from side to side we're not where we belong, and we lose an awareness of what we would know if we were where we belong. I'm sure that you could all testify to this experience. The reality which you know when you're on the beam, as they say, seems to fade away, disappear, when you begin to swing off to one side. Well that should be fair warning: Get back where you belong! Unfortunately, for most people, that doesn't seem to occur to them. They want to plumb the depths or the heights a little more, rather than stay where one belongs, aware of the depths, aware of the heights, but seeing the value of these things from the standpoint of the balanced position.
This morning I am emphasizing this balanced position particularly because certainly the swinging will likely occur with greater vehemence in the world around us as the days and years go on, and we need to have very sure footing where we belong if we're not going to be carried with it. Of course, if that goes too far things are flung right out, and we can see a cleansing process occurring on this basis. But let not everything be cleansed away! If half of it is flung this way and the other half that way, there's nothing in the middle. There needs to be something left, something that is stable and solid and provides a connection for all those who are in the vicinity of it, not physically necessarily but vibrationally.
We have a certain sensing—if our hearts are not overly impure—a certain sensing of a point of stability. Now you know there are many who are awakening in this way, sensing the point of stability, the awareness of people, individual people, you and others, who provide this point of stability without calling it names. Let's not keep the door closed. Let the door be open, because there are more who properly participate in this focus of the conscious aspect of the mind of mankind. It requires, certainly, more than are presently available. So the door needs to be kept open. There should never be a sense of shame with respect to the means by which this conscious aspect of the mind of mankind has been brought to focus. Isn't that a tremendous thing! Why deny it? For those who don't understand we wouldn't particularly shout it from the housetops. But there are those who are ready to understand; for them the door should be open.
So I rejoice to share this consideration of a reality which is describable in symbolic ways; it's the only way it is describable. We have to use words of some kind, and these seven and twelve numbers are useful in acquainting us with something very real that is going on, and in which we properly share. And we're not isolated in some conscious level of understanding, because there would be no conscious level of understanding without the subconscious. It's all one thing; it's all properly unified. But we have the point of conscious stability in the middle where we stay. We are not swung around by all the things that are going on in the subconscious mind and heart of mankind. Lots of things are going on there; we sometimes inadvertently get hooked up with them. Well we need to be alert so that we don't stay with that sort of a ride—we come back to where we belong. And others will tend to come with us and stand where they belong too. Altogether there may be the true ordinances of heaven and the dominion of them set in the earth. When that is so, the earth is known once again to be the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
